Turn Disappointment into a Springboard for Growth As a parent, you never want to see your child experience pain. Pain can occur both physically and emotionally—both are equally challenging. One of the most difficult experiences for a child is disappointment. Children can be very enthusiastic, looking forward to events, activities or achievements. When their hopes […]
What’s missing from your kid’s life could make all the difference. During my twenty years as a psychotherapist working with young people and their parents, I’ve witnessed certain youth make sudden leaps in maturity that catapulted them far ahead of their peers. In fact, their amplified sense of well-being astonished me and their parents. What […]
Published in Issues in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Vol. 38 During adolescence, teens confront complex feelings toward their parents and find themselves caught in an anxiety-fueled dilemma: the wish to reject or distance themselves while they are unavoidably dependent on them and yearning for their approval. This clash of impulses fuels adolescent separation anxiety. What is the […]
Good Parenting Rarely Comes Naturally Parenting takes years of hard work, and even then we all make mistakes. Parenting tests you on every level: emotionally, physically, financially, even spiritually. Though there are no shortcuts to good parenting, there are qualities that you can cultivate that will improve your parenting dramatically. What are these qualities? Glad […]
Excerpt from WHEN KIDS CALL THE SHOTS, Chapter Three: Bullying at Home: How We Become Our Kids’ Victims Over the years, as I listened to bullied parents’ stories, I began to recognize many common experiences about bullying. Though bullied parents come from difficult cultures and communities, I’ve identified the three most common scenarios that contribute […]
Excerpt from WHEN KIDS CALL THE SHOTS, Chapter Three: How to resolve conflict. It’s the end of a long day. You’ve just arrived home from work, completely pooped. You flip on the TV, collapse on the sofa, and catch the end of your favorite program. You savor this quiet time. Just then, your kid begins […]
Excerpt from WHEN KIDS CALL THE SHOTS, Chapter Two: The Parent Bully It happens all the time. Parents arrive in my office in a state of shock, wondering how their sweet, adorable child morphed into a domestic tyrant. To gain a better understanding of the origins of this bullying behavior, let’s look at some basic […]
Excerpt from WHEN KIDS CALL THE SHOTS, Chapter Four, Understanding your kid’s bullying behavior style: Kids with a Defiant Bullying Style Does your kid back you into a corner with demands and threats? Are you afraid of your kid’s anger? Do you dread your kid’s outbursts? Is your kid always opposing you? Does your kid […]
Paul Smith, author of LEAD WITH A STORY and PARENTING WITH A STORY, interviews Sean Grover about his book, WHEN KIDS CALL THE SHOTS, How to Seize Control from Your Darling Bully and Enjoy Being a Parent Again. To read the full interview, CLICK HERE
